Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-03-11
MACKAY In THE EARLY DAYS.

The Partisan Idea Of Aackay In the
Mines, and How an Artist has illus.
tratea that Idea.
"Boulexardier," the Paris CORE
spondent of the San Francisco Post,
in his last letter to that paper, after
giving = description Of Mrs. Mackay's
jewels, proceeds to say:
1t is interesting, in mentioning
these insignia of enormous wealth, to
recall the time when John Mackay
was an ordinary ca lifornia miner,
picking away at the bottom of shaft
at the trade-union wages OF 81 day.
At that time he took his dinner from
his cabin in the morning in tin pail.
and the eatables were prepared by
the skillful hands of the Bonanza
Queen.
The Virginia Enterprise says this
sort of talk may do very we'll in Paris,
but out here it will by no means pass.
John Mackay was unmarried when
mining in California. In all the years
he was mining in that State he prob.
ably never saw a miners dinner pail.
1t was long afterward that he married
his wife, in Virginia City. In his time
the cabins of the miners in California
were built near their mines, and they
always went to their cabins for their
meals, and cooked them after they got
there-that is, all save the few who
had wives. The "skillful hands" that
prepared John MAckay's grub when
he was mining in California were his
own. Put him into q cabin to-day
and he would dish up a dinner that
would astonish the natlves-of Paris.
All he would ask for in the way OF
, provisions would be a sack Of self
, rising -four, q few pounds of Chill
beans, a slab of Cape Horn bacon, 9
8 few spads, and perhaps one of those
kind of porter-house steaks that have
a nice round bone IN the middle
: With pepper, salt, and few Other
,, condiments, he would make French
mans hair curl.
1t is also ne VS. to Pacific Coasters
that there was such Il thing as "trade
union wages of 81 day" at the time
Mackay was "picking away at the
bottom of shaft" in California. Il
: sending "coals to Newcastle, it SHOULD
e always be borne in mind that New
castle is judge of Goals. This par
. ticular paragraph of "Boulevardier's'
letter is illustrated. In the foreground
of the picture "Johnny comes march
It ing aloag." He has pick on hi
n shoulder that looks like birch bar
q canoe with handle IN it. He wear
sombrero and q sailors collar, wit
!, flowing neckerchief; and in his hand
II is dinner pail that looks like fig
10 drum with bail to it. AS Johnn
comes marching along he cocks a
g eye back toward where Mrs. Macka
is seen standing in the door of tt
cabin, in the background. She stane
~ beside q wash tub, with tucked-u
TO skirts, and in a stretched forth han
II appears to be waving something 1
,e Johnny as a farewell--perhaps one {
. his socks, just lifted from the tu
On the side of the cabin, directly ov'
Mrs. Mackay's head, is stretched
coon skin. This is happy though
of the artist, as the California moui
to tains are Just as full of 'coons as the
are of 'possums. Perhaps the placin
Of of the coon skin on the structure Wa
.t merely explanatory; was meant to sa
" "This is cabin" just as the sma
r boy writes under his artistic effor
1. "This is a dog" The artist has reE
RS resented Mr.. Mackay with formlds
d BILE beard covering all the lower pal
of his face and reaching all the wa
up to his ears. The face looks lik
10 that of the late Sine Barnes, who ws
he "a fellow of infinite Jest, of most e,
re cellent fancy" Even the window {
S. the cabin is wrong. 1t contains mir
~ lights of glass, whereas it should hay
. only six. Thus are shown three ligh
rs for which John Mackay never had ar
use. Over IN California, in the ear
90 days, they would have mobbed al
90 man who had the audacity to put nil
90 panes of glass in his cabin window.